I haven't shown my( disaster) in a while

Looks good to me. Good to see you at Edison. See you at York.

Dave, I don't see a disaster at all. Looks like a fun layout. If I showed mine....now that's a disaster. In fact it's a plaster disaster. Hundreds and hundreds of pounds of rock plaster. Don

It looks better than my layout - much better.

NH Joe

Dave, that is wonderful!   I love it.  All that matter is you like it and have fun with it.

I personally love the "crappy basement layouts".  They are my favorite.

Nice job

What disaster are you talking about? Looks like a totally cool layout to me, one folks would love to have. I give you a thumbs up, my man !

Scrappy

that looks great!

Nothing wrong with your layout. Looks pretty darn good to me.........Paul

Steve Musso posted:

Looks good to me. Good to see you at Edison. See you at York.

At least the DCS works! (thanks for programing it!)

Looks very good.  I even spotted a support beam from the Roller Coaster Tycoon building set.  Do you have the coaster setup on the layout?  I would love to see a photo of it.   I have the same set, it takes up a lot of real estate.  Which is why mine is packed away in a closet.

i like the haunted house area!

Looks nice, enjoy it!  It has everything, track and trains and scenery

Your layout looks great!
The best part you are having fun! 
Enjoy.

Mike McCutcheon posted:

Looks very good.  I even spotted a support beam from the Roller Coaster Tycoon building set.  Do you have the coaster setup on the layout?  I would love to see a photo of it.   I have the same set, it takes up a lot of real estate.  Which is why mine is packed away in a closet.

Hi Mike!, You have a good eye on the coaster set. Mine is just there for show as I had to modify it to fit it in the space I had and the coaster keeps getting "hung up". I would like to replace it with a Coaster Dynamix Mine Train as I think that would fit in the space allotted.

You have Krispy Kream Donuts!!  

Crappy?  It looks fantastic! Thanks for posting.

Hal

The disaster is there are not more pictures of it.

FWIW.  First, I like all the busy trackage and colorful structures on your layout.  I don't see a mess. I see a fun place to escape to and run trains.

However. Is there is something mysterious lurking in your post Dave?  You wrote that you "are not starting over", but then followed it up with "this should be the last o gauge layout I will ever build" .  I wonder if you, like me a couple years ago, have a pebble in your shoe that is bothering you and the discomfort is growing to the point that you want some changes, but don't want to go through the disruption and what might be a lot of work.  When I redid my layout starting a couple of years ago, I left the basic benchwork track design the same except for a few important doable changes that made a pretty big difference for me in operations. It did take a lot of time for me but it was worth it.

I seldom went down to the basement to run trains for a while because I disliked what I saw on my layout.  It was a mental block.  So if you are still having fun with things as they are, and I hope you are, then that's what counts.  If you want to get rid of the pebble, now or later, that's OK as well.  I hope to see more of your layout.

Are you modeling an earthquake in the picture with a wood-framed building under construction?

Looks like a nice layout to me.

Other then a few places that suffered from the earthquake that needs repair, it looks good.

Just screw a few trim pieces up from underneath and all will be good.

looks very nice to me.....enjoy it!

I think you may have posted the wrong photos since I didn't see anything crappy or disastrous!! Nice looking layout!

pennsynut posted:

However. Is there is something mysterious lurking in your post Dave?  You wrote that you "are not starting over", but then followed it up with "this should be the last o gauge layout I will ever build" .  I wonder if you, like me a couple years ago, have a pebble in your shoe that is bothering you and the discomfort is growing to the point that you want some changes, but don't want to go through the disruption and what might be a lot of work.  When I redid my layout starting a couple of years ago, I left the basic benchwork track design the same except for a few important doable changes that made a pretty big difference for me in operations. It did take a lot of time for me but it was worth it.

I seldom went down to the basement to run trains for a while because I disliked what I saw on my layout.  It was a mental block.  So if you are still having fun with things as they are, and I hope you are, then that's what counts.  If you want to get rid of the pebble, now or later, that's OK as well.  I hope to see more of your layout.

Pennsynut:

First of all congratulations, I think you nailed it. Here is the story. Almost two years ago July 11, 2015, I had major heart surgery and almost died or as they told me I died twice in the recovery room. After about the first year I could start making it down the cellar stairs. I am now feeling a lot better but I still get very tired and I have trouble getting over and under the layout. I have minor maintenance to do and dusting plus I have much wiring left and many days I can't make it down to the layout and sometimes I get tired fast.

Why I said it's the last O-gauge layout I will ever do is that over the years I have amassed a large amount of N-gauge product to build a layout someday which when room becomes available upstairs.

Everyone else,

Thank you for all the kind words. They gave me encouragement to carry on with this mess. I'll start by patching  the holes from the "earthquake" ( the 'earthquake was caused by a combination of cheep wood and a slight moving of the whole layout.

Also, the Amusement park is being rebuilt.

Thanks  Again!

Thanks for sharing your story Dave.  I'm happy you recovered and are able to get back to the trains.  Keep us updated when you can.

Doesn't sound at all less than desirable to me.

Take care!!

George

I was looking for the pics of the crappy basement layout but I couldn't find any, did you take them down? LOL! Great layout, I especially like the display wall in the first picture, could you post a couple of pics of that? Overall very nice indeed!

ConrailFan posted:

 I especially like the display wall in the first picture, could you post a couple of pics of that? 

The wall has a major portion of my Vat car collection. I will try to get you a few more photos.

More photos, by request

Wow!, What a collection. Your train room looks great.

Thumbs up,  on the Moxie train.   My favorite drink of all time.   I have at least one 12oz Diet Moxie serving each day!!   If the Moxie doesn't kill me, the artificial sweeteners will!!! 

Thanks Dave! Outstanding! I never realized there were so many variations of the Vat Cars, I have one from my childhood and have only seen a couple come up on e-bay, so I thought it wasn't a very popular item. You pics debunked that theory! Wow! Thanks Again

Wow, OK Now, I have never met you in person, so Reading about Your Crappy Basement Analogy is maybe your way of defining (Expressing) your thoughts on your area of how and Where you have Your Trains....Your Man Cave...That being said Upfront, Your Layout and Train Collection Looks Great to Me....So, Your Imagination is Clearly very Creative and Your Display, Shelving, and Accessories are uniquely placed. I like seeing automated accessories like The Lionel Hobby Shop, Operating Cranes, and the Crane Car and Boom Car, the Ceramic City, (donut shop), and Yes, the Pumpkin Rides near a Haunted Mansion, and an open air Flea/sales Market...Your Layout is no "Crappy" Layout!!! It's a Fun Minature Museum of Peace.....Thanks For Posting...Hope Our Paths Cross at York, April that Is.....Happy Railroading....Leapin Larry.

Mike McCutcheon posted:

Thumbs up,  on the Moxie train.   My favorite drink of all time.   I have at least one 12oz Diet Moxie serving each day!!   If the Moxie doesn't kill me, the artificial sweeteners will!!! 

Moxie is hard to find in this area,but I drink it whenever I can! The Moxie train cars were specially painted and given to me by my Cousin.

leapinlarry posted:

Wow, OK Now, I have never met you in person, so Reading about Your Crappy Basement Analogy is maybe your way of defining (Expressing) your thoughts on your area of how and Where you have Your Trains....Your Man Cave...That being said Upfront, Your Layout and Train Collection Looks Great to Me....

Thanks Larry, but I must say if any of you guys saw it in person you would know what I'm talking about. MY layout would never grace the cover of OGR!  Although these posts have given me the incentive to work harder to make it more presentable!

Oh and Conrailfan, I have over 60 different Vat Cars ! (Lionel, K-Line, RGS and others)

Vat cars: It's what I do

Doesn't look any worse than mine!

Vat cars: It's vat You do!

Nice layout. 

You're right Dave, you do have a crappy basement. It isnt nearly big enough to put all the trains you want to in there

Matt Makens posted:

You're right Dave, you do have a crappy basement. It isnt nearly big enough to put all the trains you want to in there

You're right Matt!, Darn furnace and oil tank!      ()